Reflections on my visit to Cebu
I'm in the Philippines. I have been here for 10 days and I have about 10 more days to go. I love it here. The people are very friendly and gracious. The town is quaint, simple and unassuming. The pace is relaxed. The climate is a bit warm for my liking. But after the midday heat passes, I am fine. There is water everywhere and everyone loves to sing and dance. The families are close and supportive.
What I find disturbing is the inability for so many people to
USB 3.0 Advantages
USB 3.0 is coming at the end of this year and it has the potential to make a significant difference in your computing experience. If you bought your computer any time after the year 2000, it probably came equipped with at least one USB 2.0 port. However, later this year computers will start shipping that include USB 3.0 ports, which can transmit data up to ten times as fast.
Here's what to expect.
- Dubbed "SuperSpeed," USB 3.0 is much faster at transferring data than its predecessor. The current 2.0 ports can transfer packets of information at speeds of 480Mbit/s, but the 3.0 spec will be able to handle 4.8 to 5Gbit/s.
- USB ports can transfer not only information but also electricity to peripherals, which will make a whole slew of new product ideas possible. While energy transfer is nothing new in USB ports, the new version will transfer more power so that products will recharge faster.
- The new USB 3.0 will still work with your old USB 2.0 connector. It will auto-sense the connection and downshift to the appropriate data transfer rate.
- USB 3.0 is bi-directional in that it transfers data in and out from the device to your computer at the same time. USB 2.0 was only able to transfer data in or out but not able to send and receive data in both directions at the same time.
Increased speed, higher energy transfer and bi-directional data transfer promises to help bring a lot of new product ideas for your computer and other USB 3.0 devices. Maybe you can even take a USB 3.0 Flash Drive to your Redbox and plug it in and get a movie. The possibilities are endless and exciting!
Windows 7 Release Opinion
I thought I would throw out my two cents on the release of Windows 7. It is tomorrow, October 22. I have been working with it for the past few months and think that it is 90% better overall than Windows Vista. I will not go into the myriad of reasons except to say that it is considerably more compatible with XP and some of the older applications and peripherals than Vista was. Microsoft went so far as to design a copy of Windows XP into Vista so that you can literally run XP inside your Win7 computer simultaneously just in case you have a very antiquated application that absolutely, positively will not work on anything 
except XP (also for those that are afraid to commit to a newer operating system).
Our Disposable Society
Today I was contacted by a potential customer that has an HP OfficeJet Pro 8500. He wrote that the printer is displaying a paper jam error message and that it seems to have a broken gear inside but that there is no evidence of paper actually jammed in the printer. The printer costs $300 to replace and he is concerned about the costs of repair.In my email response to him I wrote...
We charge $125 for on-site repair plus $3 for cleaning materials plus parts. The parts could be anywhere from a few dollars to over $100. The problem is that getting parts puts us at the mercy of the manufacturer because these machines are all proprietary. So, even if it just needs a gear, it might mean that we have to buy an entire internal printer assembly to get the gear. So, I can't tell you exactly
Windows 7 is Better… right
I have been watching the television advertising and also reading print ads and I have noticed an interesting phenomena. Microsoft is advertising that it's new Windows 7 operating system is very very good. They are trotting out good reviews and smiling babies. I also read recently that part of the reason that the umpteenth version of Windows is going to be great is because hardware manufacturers are preparing the new device drivers and that they will be ready before the operating system is released.
Why I like Mozilla’s Firefox as my browser
I used to use Microsoft Internet Explorer as my browser but I stopped a few years ago. I switched to Firefox because I had heard that it was a very good browser and it is free. The switch was painless because it transfered over all of my bookmarks and it is a very good browser. I imagine both browsers have a lot of the same features. I think the pressure of Mozilla has made Microsoft compete in a way that they are not used to. But what I will summarize what I like best about Firefox that keeps me using it...
Split Up Microsoft
How has Microsoft has been able to eliminate so many of their competitors in so many of the most lucrative application areas? My theory is that they use their intimate knowledge of the operating system to create applications that nobody else can compete with. I compare it to a world where the auto industry had only one engine manufacturer and all of the car makers would have to buy that engine to build a car. And they also had to compete against the engine manufacturer because the engine company also built cars. But the engine company would not tell the competition everything they need to know about building a great car around this complicated engine.
Microsoft has it backwards
The myth that Microsoft has created is that the Windows operating system needs to keep getting bigger and more functional. With each new release the OS grows bigger with new applications, new graphic interface designs and new utilities. But if you take a look at the cell phone industry, you can see that the PC and the cell phone are converging.
The new cell phones from Blackberry, Apple and Plam are meant to do much more than make phone calls, send and receive messages, and browse the Web. It's a platform, like a PC, that's designed to run a wide variety of sophisticated third-party programs, or apps, from social-networking gateways to games to business tools.
Adding RAM to Your PC is Best Upgrade
Scenario: PC is 3 or more years old and still running well. You demand a lot from it. Sometimes you have 4 or more Windows applications open at a time. It feels a bit sluggish and takes too long to open a program.Solution: Add RAM. If you have less than 4gb of RAM, you might get a performance boost by adding more RAM to your PC. I usually suggest putting the max RAM into a system as an upgrade. But, be careful. If you leave the old RAM inside, your computer might become unstable. It is best to test your computer after adding the RAM. And if your system crashes or doesn't reboot, remove the old RAM and use just all new RAM.
Most importantly, you need to make sure you are getting 100% compatible RAM. There are dozens of combinations of RAM specifications. So, check with us if you need any help. We can order and install exactly the right RAM for your computer(s) and install it for you too.